Recently, the world mourned the passing of Grumpy Cat, aka Tardar Sauce, whose permanent grouchy face caused by a feline form of dwarfism turned her into a celebrity.
Grumpy Cat boasted 2.7 million followers on Instagram and even came to Australia as part of a worldwide tour.
She died aged seven in her mother’s arms on Tuesday May 14, 2019.
Tabatha Bundesen (Grumpy Cat’s owner) has never given away how much her beloved feline made money wise, but it’s estimated she had a net worth of $100 million.
She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, has appeared in numerous TV advertisements, has sold 500,0000 copies of a book, and has starred in a feature film.
Not bad for a cat.
Treat your ears to a deep dive into the world of pet influencing. Post continues after podcast.
‘Influencer’ is a job title we’re getting more and more used to as the years go on, but have you ever spared a thought for the niche world of pet influencing?
Well, perhaps you should. For the sake of your pooch/cat/rat/bird.
Because Grumpy Cat is not the only one who’s been making her owner super rich.
“I have cats in the six figure range,” pet manager and CEO of Pets on Q, Colleen Wilson, told The Quicky.
“We work with everyone from Mercedes Benz, Home Depot, we have done a major makeup campaign with some of our cats,” said Wilson of some of her client’s achievements.
Wilson saw a gap in the market. Owners with fabulous pets and huge social media followings who were doing work for brands for free.
“I started to reach out to a couple of them and say ‘Hey, you’re being taken advantage of’. It was very side job for a long time, and it eventually took off.
“Some of our influencers started growing from 100,000 to millions of followers. We just kind of facilitated and helped them along the way,” she explained.
One of Wilson’s most popular clients is a cat called Coby.
He has 1.5 million followers on Instagram, and his fans are obsessed with his white fur and striking blue eyes that feature the perfect ‘eyeliner’ naturally.
“It’s so crazy but we’ve had four makeup brands reach out to us wanting him to be the ambassador for their new eyeliner. He’s been on billboards in Brazil. If I walk over to Macey’s he’s on a cosmetics marketing banner there,” Wilson told The Quicky.
“You’d think all we’d do is pet food, but it’s really not,” she added. “We have at least 15 CBD oil campaigns going at any given time. It’s nuts.”
So how much money could you potentially be making?
Forbes reporter Stephan Rabimov broke down the figures for The Quicky: “If someone has 100,000 followers, you could expect $1600 per post. If that number of followers is half a million you’re looking at a price point of 5 to $7000 per post.
“For those with over a million, you’re looking at $10,000 or as far as millions of dollars.”
Rabimov says it’s pets like Grumpy Cat that take their online popularity into the real world that see the real big bucks.
“If you remember the late designer Karl Lagerfield, he left a cat behind and that cat has its own Instagram account.
“But because the cat was an inspiration for various products he designed, it had contracts as high as $3 million,” he explained.
“If these influencers are successful at taking their image outside the social media world, and bringing that to the physical world, they could be demanding much higher profit,” he reiterated.
For those looking for some inspiration to get your pet insta-famous, here are Rabimov’s top picks to follow.
Pumpkin the raccoon:
Hamlet the piggy:
Loki the wolfdog:
Mr Pokey the hedgehog:
It’s time for a change of career we think.